He Didn't Have to Be
by arella mikel
Summary: What if Scully had a little boy when she joined the X-Files. And what if though the years Mulder was there for him just as much as he was there for her and they were there for him.


Scully looked at the clock on her beside table. 6:45 she had just over an hour before her date. Her mother was going to be at her apartment around 7:30 to help her get her adorable 3 year old son Jake fed and put to bed. She walked out into the living room where she had left Jake with his favorite Barney tape and his Lamb Chop stuffed animal while she made his dinner. She went for something easy. After a long day of paperwork with the FBI, she was always left doing the reports every time she was on a task force, the last thing she wanted to do was come home and stand over a stove for an hour.

"Jake, buddy, can you go wash up for dinner please?"

"Yes mommy."

"Use soap this time." She didn't know what it was but for some reason he always forgot about using soap when he washed his hands. Of course it wasn't that big of deal but she was trying to instill good habits. Just a few moments later Jake came bouncing through the kitchen. If only there was a way to bottle up some of his energy.

"Let me smell." he held up his hands to his mother. Smelling the green apple soap Scully smiled to herself. "Go get in your chair please."

Jake climbed into his booster seat and waited patiently for his mother. That was one thing Scully was always thankful for, even though he had the energy of any other 3 year old he was extremely well behaved. Scully scooped some Mac and Cheese onto Jake's favorite batman plate along with the hot dog she had cut up for him before making her own.

The little family was sitting there enjoying their meal while Jake went on about his day at daycare when there was a knock at the door drawing Scully back to reality.

"Sounds like Grandma is here." Scully got up and answered the door. "Hi mom."

"Dana why aren't you ready?"

"Mom I still have 30 minutes before he will be here."

"I don't see how you can get ready so quickly. I remember when your dad and I first got together it would take me well over an hour to get ready and he was still left waiting when he got to my door."

"Mom we are just going to a movie and for drinks after. Its not the big of a deal. Its just casual. Its only the first date." Maggie went on to try and say something else but Scully just walked away.

"Mom I need to get ready remember?"

"Oh yes. Go. I'll clean up dinner."

The date was going great until the movie was over, because once the movie was over the talking had to begin. Every guy always seemed to ask the same questions. So why medicine? The FBI really? Can I see your badge? Do you carry handcuffs? Usually it was like she was applying for a job. All the boring questions no one really wants to know the answer to but they feel like they have to ask. But this guy genuinely seemed interested. He actually looked her in the eye when he talked, pulled out her chair when they finally got a table at the bar just around the corner from Scully's apartment. But when they changed the subject onto him he started talking about his niece and Scully could sense his disgust.

"I mean don't get me wrong. Its not that I don't like children I just don't think they are for me. The crying, the screaming, the snot. Nope couldn't do it."

"Its getting really late. I've had a great time but I have to get up early tomorrow. You know work calls." Scully lied through her teeth.

"Oh yeah, sure. I didn't realize how late it had gotten. Guess time really does fly when you are having a good time." Scully just smiled.

The ride back to her apartment was mostly quiet. And Scully was surprised when he offered to walk her to her door. _Wow he must have actually enjoyed himself. That or he is hoping for something more to happen tonight. Yeah right buddy._

When they got to her door the apartment was a lot louder than it should have been.

"So I had a really great time tonight. You think we could do it again sometime?" Scully was just about to answer when the door swung open.

"Oh thank goodness its you Dana. Jake has a fever and just will not go to sleep."

"UHHH... who's Jake?"

"You didn't tell him Dana? Really he is your son and you tried to hid him."

"I didn't try and hide him. Its just not really first date material mom."

"I should probably go and leave you to your son."

"yeah probably a good idea." _I'd tell you to give me a call sometime but I know you wont so I'm not even going to waist my breath._

"Night Dana. See ya 'round" _yeah right._ Scully shut the door behind her and leaned against it for a minute. _Id love it if just once they didn't freak out and round when they learn I'm a mom._

After putting Jake in a cool bath to help bring his temp down and a dose of Motrin she was finally able to get the little boy back to bed. She sat down on the couch with her mom.

"So how did it go."

"It was actually going pretty well, at least so he though. I stopped trying once he mentioned that he never wanted kids."

"OK as long as I'm not the reason you wont be seeing him again." Scully just smiled. Ever since she decided to leave Danial she had a hard time finding anyone else. Yeah having Jake didn't make it easy, but in her opinion if you couldn't handle her son then you wouldn't be able to handle her. Of course as soon as Danial found out she was pregnant he begged her to come back. But she had already cause that family enough trouble by having an affair with a married man she wasn't going to allow him to leave his family.

"Well I should really be getting back home to your father. You know he won't go to sleep till I'm back."

"Alright. Thanks again for tonight mom. I'll call you tomorrow and let you know how he is doing. I love you mom."

"Love you too dear."

AN: Hey guys thank for reading. This is my first X-Files story so please hang in there. So this one is a little out there but I was listening to my ipod and it popped into my head. I wanted to play around with the idea of Scully having a kid and Mulder being there for her and for the kid through the years. I noticed there weren't many stories like this on her so I don't even know how well this is going to go over. But I don't really care.

For those of you you have also read some of my other fics... It Wont Be Like This Forever will be updated shortly I promise.


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